Category Archives: president of the United States

I am not a Muslim nor was I born in one of the seven countries Donald Trump has chosen to block entry into the United States from. I am a white man of privilege, born in the United States. I am also an out gay man. Continue reading →

Watching the antics of Donald Trump is like watching the best reality show on TV, except that this is for real. Just when you thought that he could not go lower, could not cross one more uncrossable line, he does. There is both a horror and a thrill watching this election. Horror as the sheer banality and ugliness of Trump. Thrill at the show.

The Advocate reported that the White House would give LGBT Syrian refugees priority for entry given the persecution they face under ISIS. The Advocate writes, according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest, “the administration would instead prioritize letting in those refugees ‘deemed to be the most vulnerable.’ LGBT people would be among those meeting that definition.” The article goes on to say that the State Department has said that, “priority would be placed on those facing extreme persecution,” and that the definition of those being persecuted included LGBT refugees. Another interesting dimension the article described was a change recently in the State Department definition of the word, ‘spouse’, which now includes LGBT. So LGBT spouses of Syrian refugees are now seen differently than they might have been, thanks to marriage equality.